Carson passes Trump, Clinton way ahead of Sanders in new poll

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson has moved ahead of real estate mogul Donald Trump in the Republican presidential race, with both “outsiders” running far ahead of GOP officeholders seeking the nomination, according to a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll.

Trump is not a man to take a bad poll lying down. Hawking his new book “Crippled America” in New York, “The Donald” laid into Rubio. “Marco is overrated,” said Trump, who then gave his opinion of Rubio’s personal finances: “For years I’ve been hearing that his credit cards are a disaster. He is a disaster with credit cards.”

A softer tone was taken toward Carson, who just issued his own tome, “A More Perfect Union.”

“My book is very hard hitting,” Trump said. “His is a different kind of book and his is a different kind of person.”

The 2012 Republican nomination battle yielded a succession of front-runners, a pattern that is being seen again. For instance, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, leading in the polls, sank like a stone after being unable to name the three Cabinet departments he would eliminate. He is remembered for one word: “Oops!” and has already dropped out of the 2016 race.

Carson “has broad support. but we don’t yet know the depth and commitment of that support. It doesn’t mean it’s enduring,” Fred Yang, one of the poll takers, told NBC. Peter Hart, the veteran Democratic pollster, looked at Republican primary voters and said: “This is not a status quo electorate.”

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton has reasons to smile, and grounds to grimace.

The ex-secretary of state has expanded her lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, among Democrats to two-to-one, with a 63-31 percent lead. Eighty-four percent of those surveyed by the NBC/Journal poll expect her to be the Democratic nominee.

Clinton: A front runner with high unfavorable ratings.

Still, even after a strong debate showing, and standing up to the House Benghazi Committee, Clinton still wins favor with 40 percent of the American electorate, and is viewed unfavorably by 47 percent. The debate/testimony appearances have helped her with Democrats. Independent voters remain suspicious and do not see Clinton as trustworthy.

The NBC/Journal poll sampled 400 Republican voters. It was taken Oct. 25-29, before and after the contentious, chaotic CNBC debate between Republican contenders. It has a margin of error of plus/minus 4.9 percent. Overall, the poll surveyed 1,000 voters across the country.